Most children in Sri Lanka know the rules of cricket, and many fields are scattered across the island. The country co-hosted the 1996 Cricket World Cup with India and Pakistan, and has hosted the Asia Cup tournament on numerous occasions. It will also co-host the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

The Sri Lankan cricket team is a national cricket team representing Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1975, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test playing nation. Sri Lanka Cricket, formerly the Board for Cricket Control in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), is the controlling body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It operates the Sri Lankan cricket team and first-class cricket within Sri Lanka.

Golf

For the avid golfer, Sri Lanka is a treat, with three distinctive courses spread across the island to test and delight you. There’s the colonial heritage of the high-altitude game atNuwara Eliya Golf Club, the exclusive Royal Colombo Golf Club - where your game is punctuated by the Kelani Valley train running through the course - and the world-classVictoria Golf Course with its stunning views and hill country breezes. They offer different highlights and challenges, and are situated in major tourist destinations so you don’t have to wander too far from Sri Lanka’s attractions to indulge in a tropical game of golf.

Sri Lanka occupies a significant position in the history of golf. The Royal Colombo Golf Club was built in 1879, the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club 10 years later: the colonial population was eager to play a game reminiscent of their home country. In fact, after Britain, Sri Lanka boasts the oldest National Championship in the world, and the Royal Colombo Golf Club was only the fourth club in the world to receive the royal charter.

Sports Clubs

Sports are a very important part of Sri Lankan life. Every child knows how to play Cricket and they are many cricket fields in Sri Lanka for children and adults to play with. Children also play other sports like Soccer, Gudo and Coconut. Gudo is where everyone has a stick and hits a ball made out of string into the goals. Coconuts are where you throw the coconut at each other. Football and hockey are also popular in Sri Lanka.

There are numerous clubs, courts and sports grounds allocated for players of cricket (the most popular sport) rugby, tennis, squash, soccer, athletics, swimming, volleyball (national sport in Sri Lanka) and many more. Aquatic sport lovers can enjoy selecting from options such as scuba diving, kayaking and boating.

There are dozens of ways to keep yourself healthy and entertained, no matter what your age, ability or experience is. Given below is a list of recreational and sporting opportunities on offer.

More than a century later, Sri Lankan golf welcomed a younger sibling – the Victoria Golf Club nestling in the hills outside Kandy. While it cannot compete with the history of its elder neighbours, it makes up for this with a championship layout maintained to United States Golf Association (USGA) standards. Moreover, it has been named among the 100 most beautiful courses in the world by Golf Digest.

On arrival in Sri Lanka, most visitors take time to acclimatise to the hot and humid conditions. Especially in the first few days, golfers should remember some tips to playing at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. Ensure to tee off before 9am and finish your round before 11am. Wear a shady hat and take enough water with you. The logical way to address this situation is to head for the cooler hills for your first games of golf, and experience Colombo towards the end of your holiday.

Volleyball

Volleyball is Sri Lanka's National Sport as well as an Olympic team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.

The complete rules are extensive. But simply, play proceeds as follows: A player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. They may touch the ball as many as three times. Typically, the first two touches are to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court.

Cricket